From an acclaimed animator to the band behind “Headstrong,” artists of every stripe are turning to websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo to crowdfund their projects.

The creator of “Fresh Guacamole,” the shortest film ever nominated for an Academy Award, is cooking up a new project. Animator PES’s earlier animated movie reimagined guacamole prep using grenade avocados, baseball onions and golf ball limes—all in a minute and 40 seconds. Read More »

The Oscar shortlist for Best Animated Feature contained offerings from the usual suspects — Pixar’s “Up,” of course, and Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” — along with at least one anomaly: A low budget stop-motion feature from Belgium entitled “A Town Called Panic.” Based on a TV series more familiar to French-language audiences, the surreal movie revolves around a trio fantastical roommates named Cowboy, Indian and Horse (which also describes their appearances). Their world at once seems like a child’s toy box come to life and something much stranger and occasionally even dream-like: When Indian and Cowboy accidentally destroy the town by purchasing a few too many bricks as a birthday present for Horse, a number of complications find them sleeping in a barn, chasing after thieving sea creatures, hurtling toward the center of the Earth and avoiding a gigantic mechanical penguin.

Shot in eight months, the bizarrely imaginative movie played at major festivals throughout the year and opens in New York later this month, followed by a wider release in January. Speakeasy caught up with directors Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar over the phone from their office in Belgium, where they took a break from working on a new feature called “Ernest and Philistine” to speak via a translator about the production history of “Panic,” their dedication to a hands-on technique, and why Animal is their favorite muppet.

Read the interview and watch an “A Town Called Panic” short after the jump.Read More »

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.